Batgirl: Reborn
by anonymous skrub
Summary: The first Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, is paralyzed by The Joker. When a mysterious teen arrives amidst a brewing war for the streets of Gotham, revealing some of Batman's past, how will she change the War for Gotham?
1. Chapter 1

JULY 23

In, hold... hold... hold... out.

Repeat.

Steady on the trigger. No jerk shots, no accidents, no problem.

Keep the target in sight. Mind the guards. No enemy snipers. Perfect.

Clear firing lane... Minimal wind... And-

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, girlie." She sighs. Of course.

The cool metal of a pistol pressed to the back of her skull while her right hand holds the trigger of a suppressed Remington 700 rifle. She slowly raises it away and brings both hands above her head in the position of surrendering.

The pistol is slowly removed, and she rolls slowly over. Some of Penguin's thugs had anticipated her being here, apparently. Lucky bastards, she thought, or... they were tipped off.

"You got me, fellas," she drawled, looking down the business end of a Beretta M9A1. The gunman sneered at her, gesturing up. He holds her by the edge of the roof, grabbing her by her slightly overly thin waist, growling, "Any last words, bitch?"

She pretends to think about it for a moment before shaking her head. She hears a few chuckles as she's pushed to the very edge.

About a hundred feet between her and the ground. No biggie to her.

"Was not a pleasure to know you, not-so-gentle-gentlemen," she calls over her shoulder as she steps off. The henchmen stare dumbfounded.

"Did she just ser-" began one, before the windows in front of them shattered. In the place where a frail girl with a backpack and dirty clothes just walked off a building stood a fully armored figure kneeling down.

"What the fu- KILL IT!" shouted the leader, emptying his magazine into the figure.

A brute with a machine gun- yes, machine gun, not a minigun, as he would prefer his arms not broken- proceeded to empty his drum into the figure. As the smoke from constant gunfire settled, a new guy asked, "Is it- Is it dead?"

To answer, two glowing blue lights shone from the smoke. And said new guy was dragged into the smoke, screaming, before a sickening crunch silenced him.

The smoke cleared, and the armored girl was finishing reloading his M4A1, before glancing up.

"Save a spot in Hell for me," the girl said, voice modulator altering her voice to a deeper and creepy tone. She proceeded to shoot each henchman twice in the chest, and one in the head.

A dozen dead bodies lied facedown; face up, or faceless around her. She turned around, spotting her quarry begin to close shop.

"Not today, bud," she growled. She stepped outside, firing a grappling gun up and pulling herself to the rooftop of the skyscraper. She had about two hundred feet between her and the unfinished building where her target was located. Add a one hundred twenty two foot gap to that, and you have an interesting equation.

She slung her appropriated rifle, checked her Glock 37 handguns strapped to each thigh, and backed up, and ran towards the roof. She jumped.

Kicking off from the slight edge of the roof gave her an extra boost, as she landed right between the thugs and the exit. She shouldered her rifle, aiming right at her target.

"PETER JOHNSON," she roared, putting the red dot of her scope right between his lungs, "YOU HAVE A PRICE ON YOUR HEAD!" At this, the man paled, further contrasting his skin from his dark brown hair.

"I'M HERE TO COLLECT IT," she continued, shoving a high explosive round into the mounted M203 grenade launcher. "AND THIS HUNTER HAS NEVER FAILED TO COLLECT!" She backed up so she was perfectly distance at 30 meters, giving the grenade round a few extra meters to arm itself. "TELL DADDY SATAN THAT THE SIREN SENDS HER REGARDS!" she finished.

A quick pull of the trigger, and a 40mm grenade round exploded right in the middle of his abdomen. He didn't even get the chance to scream as the grenade ripped his body into several hundred thousand million itty bitty pieces of gore. As well as the bodies of everyone standing within a fifteen meter radius of him.

The remaining half dozen or so guards desperately shot at her to no avail. She dropped each of them with five rounds to the chest. She tossed down her borrowed rifle and proceeded to make her mark. As she passed by their cargo, she got curious.

She pried open a crate, and inside was the typical arms you'd expect Cobblepot to be smuggling. Underneath, however, laid a hidden compartment. She ripped it open, revealing something she didn't recognize at first glance. A vial containing a substance that glowed orange, slightly.

She carefully opened it, and dropped a bit onto her palm for her suit to analyze. As the chemical analysis ran, she sat down at the laptop left open and browsed their files. A frequent folder name usually had the letters "AK" followed by things like "_WEAPONREQUSITIONS", "_ARMSMANUFACTURERS", and "_DRONESHIPMENTS".

"What is 'AK'?" Siren mumbled to herself, searching further into the files. She pulled up a picture of a man with a blue helmet with pointy ears on top, seemingly Russian-styled red and black camouflage cargo pants and a TRUSPEC-esque shirt, with armor plates covering nearly every inch of his body, similar to her own suit and the Bat's.

The most intriguing detail was the insignia of Arkham Asylum emblazoned in pure white on his chest, whereas the Batman had his signature black bat symbol. She looked at the picture name, staring at it.

"Who the hell is the Arkham Knight?" she exclaimed. Hearing the telltale swish of a cape, she downloaded all the files for later study and corrupted the computer, placing a grenade in the cargo, as well. As the heavy yet silent footfalls came closer, she ran off the building, landing on a Parks Department truck carrying cut down branches and trees.

She watched the explosion from a distance, hoping she didn't kill the vile city's only capable protector. Contrary to popular belief, she didn't want crime to spiral out of control and run rampant. She just got paid from one gang to wipe out part of another. It was her own way of protecting Gotham. Her own way to save her home.

As the truck huffed along, the girl collapsed, deciding a quick power nap was due. She has a fairly tall stature for a girl of her suspected age of 15- 5'8. Her lanky build belied the hard muscles and scars that lay under her armor. She woke up at a timer set into her HUD and hopped off as the truck crossed ends of Founders' Island and over to Miaganni.

She made her way to Hells' Gate and did the special knock on the lawyer side of the establishment. The door opened and she walked in, making her way automatically to the back and into the basement.

Once below, she proceeded to make her way to the poor girl who was the accountant for Two-Face's gang. She sat down on the messy desk, looking at the frantically working girl, whose name is Helena, waiting for her to be noticed. She looked around, watching several of the men get into a fistfight, that was only broken up by the embodiment of split personality disorder himself walking by, flipping the dreaded coin.

He noticed her with his good eye, nodding her way. She did a small two fingered salute back. They may not see eye to eye... to eye... but he respected her skills and determination, and she his mostly unbiased judgement. It was, in a way, fair, but she didn't always agree with it. She supposed Dent kept the "other Dent" in check this way, however.

After completing a count of the latest bank heist, Helena finally noticed her.

"Oh! Um, Siren didn't see you there. What contract are you, uhh, collecting, ma'am, Siren, ma'am?" stammered out the poor thing.

"Johnson, Helena, Peter Johnson," she replied, giving a small smile under the mask. She liked to imagine herself as Helena's best client.

"Ok, umm... That's one... two... four... eight... twelve hundred dollars, here," Helena handed her a large envelope filled with cash. Siren grabbed it, offering her thanks, before heading out.

Once at her small little apartment at Kingston, she opened up her laptop and began decrypting Penguin's files. Taking off the upper half of her suit, Siren grabbed a slice of still warm pizza from earlier today, and wolfed it down.

Then proceeding to lie on her couch with a decent sized assault ruck at her feet, she turned on the modestly sized TV and went to the movie channels list. She decided on The Amazing Spider-Man for the sheer fact of her childhood obsession with the web-slinging vigilante.

She grunted as a small weight applied itself to her stomach. She looked down to see her adorably small cat, Brownie, lying down on her belly. Deciding it wasn't good enough, Brownie made his way up to her arms and nestled himself in the crook of one.

"You attention whore, you," she muttered, stroking the kitten's fur. Eventually falling to sleep, she dreamt of having a normal childhood anywhere else but Gotham.

When she awoke, she tried to open her eyes but couldn't, due to a still mewling kitten splay himself across her face. She sighed, plucking him off her eyes, standing, and placing him atop her head.

After a dull clean up, she checked her laptop on the decryption of the files, and seeing it was completed, made food for herself and Brownie, before setting them up at the small table. Brownie ate his cat food next to her laptop, while she munched on a buttered bagel.

Seeing most files were about this "Arkham Knight" again, she browsed until one made her blood run cold.

 **"GOTHAM_INVASION"**

 **"STAGG_CLOUDBURST"**

 **"SCARECROW_GAS_FORMULA"**

 **"AK_KILL_THE_BAT"**

Stroking Brownie a bit tenser now, she muttered, "This isn't looking good, baby." She minimized those files to check on the chemical analysis she found.

It was a prototype version of Scarecrow's new fear gas, it looked like- emphasis on prototype. Running a simulation, injection through needle would work, though in gas form the toxin would only serve to disable key organs and the immune system. Not exactly the type of fear Scarecrow was into.

Checking the time, and finding it to be a suitable time of 9 PM, she saved all these files to a flash drive, and donned her suit. Crouching on the edge of her fire escape, she glanced up to see the bright white light in the sky above GCPD HQ.

"Perfect night for a Bat hunt," she said to herself. She raised her wrist, and a gauntlet mounted grappling line fired, throwing her up into the air. Settling down on Grand Avenue Station, she saw the black and red clad dynamic duo sneak into Bruce Wayne's office at Wayne Tower.

 _Here's to hoping the other one trusts me_ , Siren thought. On that happy note, she swung over to the business headquarters of the richest man in Gotham.

 _ **MEANWHILE, INSIDE THE OFFICE OF BRUCE WAYNE**_

"Identity confirmed. Good evening, Mr. Wayne," the Batcomputer rang out. While Batman was busy utilizing the WayneTech satellites to search for this mystery smuggling ring that had cropped up suddenly, Robin made his way over to the bust of Thomas Wayne. Lifting the head up to access the retinal scanner, he stood back to allow it to scan completely.

"Identity confirmed. Good evening, Robin," the Batcomputer repeated. Out of the floor rose two Batpods, one containing an extra Batsuit, the other numerous gadgets.

"I do love these toys, Batman," Robin grinned, picking up a capsule of explosive gel. Stuffing that and a two dozen collapsed Bat-a-rangs into his belt; he turned towards the older hero who was typing furiously away at the computer.

He walked over to him, leaning over his shoulder. Furrowing his brow, he realized Batman was tracing locations all the drops had been made at. As he opened his mouth to say something, a voice cut him off.

"Don't waste your time, Bats. Got it on flash drive," a warbled female voice said. Without even looking up, Batman caught said device and slid it into a port on his computer, uploading and decrypting the files almost instantaneously.

Not recognizing the voice, Robin sprang up, staff in one hand, and a bird-a-rang leaving the other. When he finally saw his apparent opponent, he was shocked, to say the least.

A metal helmet encasing her entire head was the first notable feature, along with the pointed ear-like parts of it, and the glowing blue eye slits. A multi-plate chest piece, complete with plates going from her slight shoulders down to gauntlet-donned hands (complete with talons), adorned her torso. The dark red bat symbol on it was intriguing. Greaves went down to the knees, where the armor smoothly transitioned into a pair of what amounted to armored combat boots. All of which, with the exception of the bat symbol, were painted black. Kind of like another costume worn by a girl he knows...

Oh, and she caught his bird-a-rang between some of the aforementioned talons, too.

So caught up in his musing, he slipped out, "Babs?"

Upon the name being uttered, every person in the room stiffened. Slowly, the unnamed figure reached behind her and clicked something, causing the helmet to detach in places, and resulted in the girl slipping it off her head.

Tanned skin was revealed, along with soft, silky black hair done in a pixie cut, the tips of which were dyed a bright blue. Green eyes bore into his masked ones.

"Not Babs," she whispered, holding her helmet by her side.

The first thing that he pieced together was the eyes and hair. He definitely knew where he saw that before. The tanned skin, slightly broad jaw, the height, posture... She looked exactly like a mix of Selina Kyle and the pictures he'd seen of Bruce's mother.

His head snapped back to his mentor, now unmasked, giving a small smile to the girl. She glanced at him and smiled in reply.

The quiet reverie was broken by the Batcomputer saying, "Encryption detected. Retinal scan required."

At this, the girl smoothly walked over to the desk and sat herself down on Batman's lap, ignoring the slight " _Oof_ " he made when she plopped down. She held her head in front of the retinal scanner, allowing it to activate and scan.

As the red **"AUHTORIZATION REQUIRED"** turned into a green **"AUTHORIZATION ACCEPTED"** , the female synthesized voice damn near put Tim in a shock-induced coma with what she said next.

"Identity confirmed. Good evening, Miss Kristen Wayne."

After the computer finished, Kristen looked up and smiled at Tim... Before proceeding to throw his tool right back into his barely intercepting hand.

He glared at her, beginning, "You little bi-"

Only to be cut off by the famous Batglare. He gulped. Only this time it wasn't on Bruce's face. It was on hers.

"Be prepared for anything. Isn't that what Dad taught you?" she growled, before a cold, "Kristen," from Bruce made her sigh. Looking up at her father, they had a silent conversation.

Turning back to Tim, she rolled her eyes, droning, "Blah blah, I'm Kristen, blah blah, nice to meet you." Tim scoffed- this was supposed to be Bruce's daughter?

"Robin," Bruce- no, back to Batman- said, drawing said boy's attention. "This is Kristen. She'll be joining us from now on," he continued, causing the girl to stare up at him wide-eyed.

"What should I call her in the field, then? Batbaby?" Robin sneered. The girl looked downright murderous, and her right hand was slipping to a .45 caliber pistol he kind of only just noticed. Gulp.

"No," Batman barked, before taking a breath. "You're already familiar with the name," he paused here. "Robin, meet your new companion." Robin sucked in a gasp, already knowing what was coming.

"Meet Batgirl." Once again, green eyes bore into his own, as if trying to drag up whatever ate at his soul at the moment.

"Pleasure to meet you, Boy Wonder," now-Batgirl said in a fake high pitch voice. "Though I must ask, where's the fish-scale boxers and Robin Hood shoes? You're also kind of lacking hair... a lot of it," she finished off with a sneer of her own.

Robin grit his teeth. This is going to be a long night, he thought to himself. No such thoughts flew around Batgirl's mind. She was more preoccupied of how easy it is to trigger the poor bastard. I got plans for you, Boy Wonder, Batgirl thought, grinning internally.


	2. The Man With a Mask

**The Batcave**

Tim ducked under a small yet deadly foot that he knew for some reason was gonna continue on its path, regardless whether he pulled his head out of the way or not. He snapped an arm forward in retaliation, but got nothing but air. He spun, already knowing the counterattack was too late, holding up his left arm to take the blow and-

 _ **Ow. Owowowowowowow.**_ Tim collapsed, tears leaking out of his eyes. His hands covered the area where his deadly serious (sorta) wound was, curling into the fetal position.

"Note to self: steel toe boot applied to make crotch is highly effective at incapacitation… Oh wait, already knew that," Kristen grinned, observing the hysterical Boy Wonder with amusement.

"Get up ya big baby, it ain't like I neutered ya," she groaned, holding out a hand. As Tim- cautiously- took it, she muttered just loud enough for him to hear, " _Yet_." He gulped and hurriedly limped over to Alfred, who was a bit pale and cringing himself, holding out an ice pack.

Kristen picked up a nearby towel, squeezing cold water into it from her bottle and wiping down her face and neck. She then made her way to the Batcomputer, and plopped down in a chair, observing Bruce work.

She casually sipped from her bottle, and leaned forward, beginning her own work. Opening up Penguin's files, she began to dig.

Hours later, with achy eyes, an overly tensed vertebrae, and on the verge of sleeping right there, she closed up what she had found and lazily tossed her head in Bruce's lap. He merely grunted.

"So… tireeeeed…" she drawled, already beginning to fall asleep in her father's lap. Bruce grinned, seeing the girl beneath the warrior she grew up to be. "Then I guess it's time to take a shower, princess," he whispered, gathering her up in his arms, "'cuz you stink."

She mumbled a half-hearted "Idonwanna" before completely passing out. Sighing, Bruce made his way to her room and tucked her in, forgoing the shower. He kissed her forehead, and whispered, "Sleep tight, baby."

Looking back one last time, he closed the door behind him.

 _ **Insert bat noises to represent line break**_

"Alright, this is what I've got," Kristen said, mug of hot cocoa in one hand, pointer wand in the other. "Whoever this 'AK' guy is, he's got really deep pockets. And since we got this from Cobblepot, it's safe to say he has a hand in this.

"They placed bulk shipments on quite a few things: Heckler and Koch 416 rifles, Beretta M9A1 sidearms, Remington 700 sniper rifles and 870 shotguns, Barret M82 .50 caliber rifles, M203 and M320 grenade launchers, and SMAWs, RPG-7s, and even a few SA-24s. In addition, they got bulk 5.56x45 rounds, 9x19mm rounds, 7.62x51mm rounds, 12.7mm rounds, 40mm projectile grenades- high explosive, smoke, and airburst-, and lots of rockets. Varying calibers.

"These shipments have either come from Cobblepot himself, or were shipped through more… unsavory means. Including PMCs, pirates, and paid off government workers. Another thing they have is several blueprints for highly advanced tanks- unmanned tanks. Drones that are remote operated, and possess minimal virtual intelligence programming to be able to operate without a controller. These tanks appear to have a variety of weapons, but some designs look older, or defunct, so it's difficult to say what actually is being produced… unless, you have, say, a location for one of these facilities," she smirked, pointing to a location on the global map the Batcomputer highlighted.

Bruce squinted, leaning forward, as Tim gasped. "No way," he said, shaking his head, ("Hey, that rhymes!" whispered the Joker, peering through a hole in the fourth wall) "That's smack dab in the middle of-" "North Korea," Bruce finished.

Kristen nodded, already awaiting the next question. "What do you propose we do?" asked Bruce, leaning back.

His daughter grinned, gesturing to a Zeta Tube behind her. "You have an effectively black ops JLA team, right?"

 **37 nautical miles beyond the Korean DMZ**

 **North Korea**

"Remind me again how your… foster dad's secret daughter dragged us into _invading_ North Korea, again?" Artemis growled at Nightwing. The former Boy Wonder shrugged and smirked, irritating the blonde to no end.

"I mean, she's pretty adorable when she wants to be," he casually said, ignoring Beast Boy's disgusted face. "DUDE!" he whisper-yelled, "She's like, ten years younger than you!" Again, a shrug. "Only 3 actually, so I could invoke a Romeo and Juliet Law here," Nightwing drawled, quickly stammering out, "but I won't because I have the greatest girlfriend in the world and she's beautiful and amazing and _please don't castrate me_ ," he finished, whimpering at the end.

Artemis smirked, returning her arrow to her quiver as Miss Martian telepathically told everyone, "Two minutes to drop." Glancing around at the rest of the team, Nightwing took stock of who was there.

They had himself, obviously, and Artemis, their designated long range combatant, and Beast Boy, a near universally ranged fighter. Miss Martian was better at support and hanging back.

Batgirl- AKA Kristen Wayne-Kyle - was loading a few more Bat-a-rangs into her belt, helmet off for now. Probably noticed by now was Raven, their half-demon mystical sorceress, and like BB and Nightwing, a (former, in the latter's case) Teen Titan, who was glancing curiously at the new addition to the Batfamily.

Closing up was Supergirl, who was there to be security against any metahuman target(s). Superboy would've normally gone, but Superman and Canary had brought him on another mission, so the rookie Kryptonian was given a shot.

BB, Artemis, and Supergirl were all attired in stealth suits, which largely resembled their original costumes, but had IR and thermal detection reflection, and masked scent, as well as turning dark. Supergirl, thankfully, avoided to short t-shirt and skirt, going with a full body suit. She, along with Artemis, dyed her hair dark brown for the occasion.

Batgirl stood up, tucking her helmet under her arm. "Alright, people, the mission is simple," she said quietly, "we get in, find whatever data we can, and bug out fast as the Flash. No heroics, no unnecessary attention, and most importantly, do not get caught." Everyone nodded, as Miss Martian piloted the Bioship (cloaked, mind you) a few hundred yards out of the factory grounds and landed.

The team hopped out, and Kristen slipped on her helmet, the HUD flashing to life. "Move," she said mentally, also mentally praising Miss M's telepathic comms link.

The heroes dashed or flew forward, Artemis, Batgirl, and Nightwing gliding through trees and brush, as Miss M, Raven, Supergirl, and Beast Boy flew above.

"Slow down, we're getting closer," Batgirl said. Pausing at the tree line, the teens curiously eyed the seemingly abandoned facility. "Miss M, phase through the perimeter. Supergirl, X-Ray vision. Look for any traps hidden. I'll set my helmet to do the same," Batgirl said, already tuning her helmet to search for trip wires, explosives, and other unsavory devices of pain and death.

A few minutes later, the three concluded their findings. "I see a bunch of landmines, and a few tripwire turrets. However, most of the turrets are defunct, and the explosives in the landmines are filled with dirt and stuff, and the pressure plates appear to be inoperable," Supergirl mused, Miss Martian adding in, "There are also a few punji stake pits, so watch out."

"No need," Batgirl said, bringing out her grapnel gun. Nightwing did the same, albeit with Artemis in his arms. The three zipped to the top of the facility, safely away. Until the automated security drones flooded out.

"Shit!" swore Nightwing, ducking under an assault rifle, ramming his bo staff through the metal chest of the rusting robot. Gunfire filled the air, before all the robots turned black and white, and Raven muttered, "Azareth.. Metrion… Zinthos!" On the last word, the robots exploded.

The head that had Batgirl's bat-a-rang in it flew into Nightwing's hands, who caught it and threw the signature weapon back at his companion, who caught it without looking.

She moved to investigate the door the robots came out of, pausing to turn and nod at Raven, before flicking over to Detective Mode. "Storage racks. This was an automated response. Must have motion sensors we didn't see," she mused, before snapping her head up to the camera she heard moving. A bat-a-rang embedded itself inside the device, as she swore.

"What's the matter?" asked Raven, floating besides her. "We're not alone here, guys," Batgirl unnecessarily whispered over the mental link. "Someone manually activated those drones, and were watching us."

"What's the call, boss?" Nightwing asked, strolling up next to her. Batgirl held out a hand as her other one went to her helmet.

"Oracle, you read me?" she spoke into her mic, breaking radio silence. After a tense few seconds, Barbara Gordon responded, "I read you, Little Me. Whatcha need?"

Kristen smiled at the nickname, before returning to business mode. "Schematics of this building and all the security disabled, in a perfect world," she asked sweetly, tinged with sarcasm. "The first one I can do… uploaded to you suit already… as for the latter, well… wow, this encryption is heavy stuff. I haven't seen this sin-" Barbara broke off.

"Oracle? You read? What's wrong?" asked Batgirl. Oracle's trembling voice responded, "T-This encryption was a, um, a, uh… part of an assignment Batman had me do in the early days… an assignment I shared with-"

"Jason Todd," Nightwing breathed, recalling the now-deceased Robin, Tim's predecessor. Batgirl swallowed, recalling the tale. Her dad hadn't checked in for months following Jason's capture. Selina, her mom, and herself were worried sick. Mom even stopped stealing for that whole time.

"The last one to see Jason was the Joker," Batgirl breathed. A quiet gasp sounded beside her, and Raven seemed to go into a catatonic state. "But this couldn't be him, he's dead," she fumed, pacing. "I fucking WATCHED that bastard burn!"

Nightwing asked the obvious: "Then who the hell is this?" Sighing, she put her head in her hand, "I don't kn-" she started, before a hand on her wrist cut her off. Glancing at whose hand it was, she tilted her head at Raven, who just stared ahead.

"So many…" she breathed, pupils dilating. Concern flooded the young Bat, and she grasped Raven's cloaked shoulders. "So many what, Rae?" she implored, looking into the blank face of her teammate. Looking straight at the eye slits of her helmet, Raven whispered almost reverently, "So many tortured souls… So many afraid… So many… broken."

Turning to Nightwing, she nodded to the grate in the corner. He peeled it off, and the team headed inside. Looking back at Raven, she made to pull her along, but the sorceress didn't budge.

"Raven," she snapped forcefully, trying to get the girl out of her daze. "So many vulnerable, broken souls, Batgirl," she whispered, looking straight at her chest now. "But the most vulnerable one is yours." She suddenly snapped off her helmet, and dropped it.

"What are you doi-" Kristen questioned, before a glowing blue hand went _inside_ her damn chest. Not destroying the skin or anything, but like… phasing. And suddenly, all her fears and insecurities flashed before her eyes: fear of abandonment, fear or rejection, fear of becoming what her parents fought against… fear of being alone. And just like that, they were all gone, replaced by a soothing touch and soft hands stroking her hair. She didn't even realize she was sitting on Raven now, tears streaking down her face.

"You won't be alone now," Raven whispered, lips ghosting against hers. As Kristen leaned forward, and pressed her lips to Raven's, she felt... content. Like all was well. When she pulled away to breathe, she placed her forehead against her lover's, smiling slightly, until she noticed Raven wasn't breathing. In fact, there was two swords buried deep in her chest. Looking up, she saw Deathstroke slipping away, laughing.

"Nonono," she whimpered, curling into a ball. Suddenly the world flashed, and she saw Raven and the team fighting against a horde of soldiers in red uniforms. She glanced at her arm, feeling a vague sting in it, and seeing a rapidly emptying glowing yellow syringe.

Recognizing the toxin anywhere, she thrashed around, looking for the villain she was sure was Croc food. Instead, she met a blue mask and black and red armor, bearing the insignia of Arkham Asylum.

"Sweet dreams, little Bat," he- it was definitely a he- taunted, before sauntering off. She fumbled in her utility belt for the antidote, finally finding it and jabbing the needle into her arm's blood vessel.

She hissed as the drug flooded her body, finally getting up on a shaky arm and wobbly legs. She looked up in time to see a rifle butt heading for her head. She rolled to the side, and threw two bat-a-rangs into the arm of the soldier, who promptly screamed and dropped his gun.

Continuing, she shot forward, using her talons to slice open his calf, before charging into the fray herself. Only to find out she didn't need to.

" _ **AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS!"**_

The chant reverberated throughout the factory, and suddenly every soldier in the loading bay was thrown into the walls of the room, fast and hard enough to knock them unconscious.

For a minute, all that anyone heard was heavy breathing from the still tense heroes.

"Everyone okay?" Batgirl asked over the link. The group gave varying affirmatives, even as Raven wobbled a bit on her legs.

"Alright," she continued, turning, "let's see what we can fi-"

Suddenly, the east wall caved in, and several light tanks rolled into the room. Eyes widening, she called out orders, mental link abandoned.

"RAVEN, BARRIER! SUPERGIRL, MISS M, TAKE THEM OUT! BB, ARTEMIS, NIGHTWING, WITH ME!" The heroes hastened to fulfill their tasks.

Raven erected a massive glowing black barrier, sweat dripping from her brow as machine guns and light cannons pounded the shield, cracks appearing in it. The non-metas and Beast Boy shot up to the rafters, and were about to drop behind the tanks to assist in destroying them, while Supergirl drew their fire. Miss Martian zipped around, phasing in and out, ripping out ammunition loading mechanisms, targeting arrays, and engine parts.

Suddenly, Supergirl collapsed in mid-flight, the tank she was attacking already mostly disabled. A green glow shone through the room, and the figure that had injected Batgirl with fear toxin walked out holding a shard of kryptonite.

"Nifty little rock," he warbled, "able to basically take away a god's powers."

He glanced down at Supergirl, then kicked her hard enough to slam against Raven's weakening barrier, and for the heroes to hear her ribs crack. She screamed, the high-pitched wails causing them to cringe.

He nodded to a soldier holding a flamethrower, and suddenly the heat turned on, and flames from multiple flamethrower-wielding troops increased it. Miss Martian turned visible and collapsed, panting. She gasped as a gauntlet-covered hand clutched her throat, and hurled her into the barrier as well. However, this time Raven lowered it and raised it as she passed through, creating another construct to catch the Martian girl.

"Only the witch left?" he asked, tilting his head. "Very well. Target the ceiling, they're likely in the rafters," he barked.

"MOVE!" Batgirl called out, the teens running to get behind Raven's barrier as a stray bullet struck Artemis, and Batgirl turned to see her fall.

She dove, grabbing her in mid-air and opening her cape from its storage pack on her back, before huddling under it as bullets pounded the garment.

"HOLD FIRE!" the mystery man ordered. Retracting her cape, Batgirl took a defensive position in front of Artemis, who was bleeding from her gut. Another liquid mixed with it, and Batgirl swore- hydrochloric acid escaping the stomach. _I need to finish this quick_ , she thought.

"You," she stated, looking at the figure in a blue helmet and red camouflage.

"Me," he said. He seemed curious.

"Strange seeing you here. I could have sworn you were taller, and liked leaving you hair out, Barbara," he casually mentioned. Kristen heard Oracle gasp over the radio. _How the fuck does he know who she is?_

"Not Barbara," she said, keeping her answers simple. Her talons flashed in the light, and she tensed.

"New kid, then? Guess the old man needed a lot of replacements fo-" he cut himself off, launching into a spinning kick, which Batgirl blocked with her wrist, sending him crashing to the floor.

He rolled quickly, as a crater appeared where she punched where he just was. He threw a flashbang in front of her, which she knocked off course with a bat-a-rang. It exploded behind him, as he drew himself into a fighting stance.

"Not bad, kid," he grunted, circling her. Batgirl didn't respond, instead throwing three bat-a-rangs at him, which he dodged with astounding agility, but met her boot with his face on the way down from his jump.

He flew a few feet, grunting in pain, his helmet cracked. He rolled his neck, popping it. "Let's get real, then," he growled.

He charged, feinting a left hook, and when she went to block, he struck her in the ribs with a hard punch, knocking the wind from Batgirl. She gasped, leaving her open for another jab, this time a hard kick at her thigh which sent her down on a knee.

As the man moved to strike her neck with a knife he pulled, she grabbed his arm and threw him to the ground, and forced the knife from his hand. Roaring, he bent himself and a hard boot met her face, causing her to fall back.

Nightwing pulled Supergirl and Artemis behind the barrier, and began performing first aid on Artemis. Beast Boy watched the fight with growing anticipation. He was waiting for something drastic to happen- he could feel it.

Batgirl kicked her assailent straight back when he came at her prone form, and jumped back to a standing position. Turning, she was staring down the business end of a tank cannon. Instinctively, she flipped over it- _too close to be effective_ , she thought- and quickly sprayed explosive gel along its length, blowing it once she reached the turret. Running off and shooting a grapnel gun, she pulled herself to the rafters.

At least, that was her plan until her line was shot. Following that, she felt another bullet impact against her armor.

The suit stopped the bullet, but she still crashed into a metal cargo container. Looking inside, she found a large block of C-4 sitting inside. _Armed_ C-4.

"Nighty, night, little Bat," said the mysterious stranger, pulling a trigger. Somehow, in the space between the _click_ of the trigger and the blast, Raven put a shield around Batgirl, and pulled her over. The shield bubble was weak, so the blast still rattled the body inside the suit.

As Batgirl rolled on the floor and tore off her helmet to vomit, Nightwing growled, "Who are you?"

The man simply _tsked_ , and wagged a finger. "Not now, little birdie," he taunted, and Nightwing could hear the smirk in his voice. Nightwing growled, but suddenly the roof of the factory was torn off, and a small squadron of heavily modified CH-47 helicopters circled the compound.

Slipping her helmet back on, Batgirl glanced wearily at the helicopters, turning back to the man.

"I'll find you," she vowed, loud enough to be heard over the rotor blades. He chuckled again, shaking his head. "No," he said, "you won't."

Grabbing a SPIE rig dropped for him, he hooked up and waved as he was lifted into the night. Suddenly, AH-64 Apaches- also modified- showed up on-scene and targeted the heroes. Raven made a semisphere barrier, and fell on a knee as rockets and 30mm guns pounded it. White cracks spread across the magical shield, and Batgirl called out another order seconds before it fell.

"CYBORG, BOOM TUBE US, NOW!"

Suddenly, the barrier broke, and the heroes' positions was obliterated. When the smoke cleared, ashes and small chips of concrete were the only things that remained.

Coming from the middle of the pile of rubble was a flapping purple cloak.


End file.
